It started a long, long time ago, when people didn't know yet; there was no science, no communication, no world wide view and no information about how much Mother Earth can take. And now we do have all that is needed in matters of knowledge and communication but we all seem to be deaf, blind and mute. Transport and industries, meat eating and fireworks, wale fishing and seal slaughter, deforestation and nuclear waste, you name it, we just don't care a shit ( sorry), we just don't! So we get it all back. And if that was not yet bad enough, the worst disasters happen where there is no defence against it at all. Poor people in poor buildings, no alarm systems whatsoever, too many people on a square meter, many accepting these 'natural disasters' as some punishment of their gods. And what did they do wrong? It's us, the (seemingly) sophisticated and thoroughly educated, that mess up. Me too, I take my part in pestering Mother Earth: I still use my car too often, I still smoke, I still eat meat sometimes, I accept all that plastic that comes with my groceries and with more or less everything else.
And I feel stupid, the more difficult it is to open the wrapping of a product, the more dangerous garbage I get. Even nails and screws are wrapped individually. It's all laziness and my lack of character! I've just had a busy workweek and didn't do much shopping, but still by the end of this week, I have two plastic bags filled with plastic waste, a carton box filled with paper, two buckets of natural waste for compost and a small bag with garbage that was mostly unnecessary, but it's there! So I recycle all I can, I'm trying not to waste water, save rainwater for my plants, I buy mostly recycled stuff and also 'biological' food (curious, wasn't food supposed to be biological anyway?) when I have money to spend, does that help? Maybe, but it is not enough!
A simple example: my sliced cheese comes in a handy hard plastic cover, with extra cellophane keeping the cheese from drying and small peaces of greasy paper in between every slice. I use this kind of cheese because I'm lazy, I want to get out fast in the morning and so I take two slices of bread (from a paper bag, yes) and two slices of cheese, fit to rapidly cover the bread, wrap the lot in tinfoil and off I go. It would take me about 2 minutes more to slice from a piece of cheese covered in greasy paper, but I'm in a hurry and damaging Mother Earth. Waste is waste and to recycle it, we need a lot of expensive and filth producing energy!
I know, I know, all the excuses you'll think of for yourself are the same ones I use for me. And we all use them and so we got where we are now.....where they are, the cancer patients, the earthquake victims in their cheaply constructed apartment building, the poor fishermen and their families on the island that is swept away in a Tsunami. The people in the jungle with no food left, lots of extra desserts, animals killed in bushfires!
We dried the earth on one side and soaked it on the other, try doing that with a paper ball and see what happens!
Many governments are fighting over the issue: is the sea-level rising, no, it is not, yes, it is, isn't it? Is the climate changing? Yes it is, but it is not our fault, it is nobody's fault. What can we do? Nothing, doing something would upset the elections or the country's treasury.
Don’t worry, I just wrote this for me, it's a confession to myself, I need to change and I need to act differently in order to do so, I'll probably need help from all of you, that's why I put it on the blog. Don't feel attacked; please don't think I'm an Internet addict that writes for applause or whatever. I need to become more aware of what I'm doing to the rock I live on and I need to do it now! My grandchild is on its way, what do I leave as a heritage when I am gone? Earthquakes, fine dust, chemical rivers, gasmasks and inland seas? I hope not, so you help me out here, what can I do?
And do't we all need to become aware of the poor situation Mother Earth is in.
She's still alive and kicking, kicking back, the nasty way.
Please leave your suggestions underneath in the reaction space.
©Gavi Mensch
Maastricht, 11-4-2010
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